Talent

An automated speech coach to help you nail your next interview. Image recognition that can always find Waldo. And a voice-controlled scanner that allows you to 3D print a medical cast. 

Those are just a few of the projects created by over 3,000 student hackers who attended Hack the North 2020++ from January 15 to 17, 2021. 

On March 17, 2020, Queen’s Park declared a state of emergency under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act to protect the health and safety of individuals and families in Ontario. Among the measures was the cancellation of elective procedures — surgeries scheduled sometimes months in advance — to create capacity for hospitals in case they experienced a massive surge in COVID-19 patients.

The following opinion piece by Mary Wells, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Waterloo, and Suzanne Kresta, dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan ran on December 6, 2020 in CBC's Opinion section. It's reposted with permission. 
 

Twenty-five years after circumstance bumped him onto a different path, Yuri Quintana (BASc '88, electrical, PhD '95, systems design) is still roaring down it as a professor at Harvard Medical School and chief of clinical informatics at one of its teaching hospitals.

With a freshly minted doctorate from Waterloo in hand, Quintana landed his first faculty job at Western University to develop internet search engines.

Pearl Sullivan, the University of Waterloo’s former dean of engineering and the first woman to hold the position, died on November 28 after a 12-year battle with cancer.

Just the fifth woman across Canada to head a school of engineering, she was a dynamic force for Waterloo Engineering and the entire University.

Goel is recognized in Canada and around the world as a leading public-health researcher, health-services evaluation expert, and champion for the use of research evidence in health policy making.

Goel has held a number of senior leadership roles at the University of Toronto including as Vice-President and Provost and most recently as Vice-President Research and Innovation.

"Dr Vivek Goel is a leader for our times that we live in.  His experience, accomplishments, perspectives and passion to make a difference will suit the University of Waterloo very well as we enter a new chapter in growing what is already an incredibly innovative university."

Jagdeep Bachher, Community-at-Large Member of the Board
 

Vivek Goel, a distinguished scholar with extensive achievements in research, teaching and leadership across both public and private sectors, will become the seventh president and vice-chancellor of the University of Waterloo.

Goel, who begins his five-year term on July 1, 2021, is recognized in Canada and around the world as a leading public-health researcher, health-services evaluation expert, and champion for the use of research evidence in health policymaking.

Rogers Communications, Sportsnet, and the University of Waterloo today announced the launch of the Sportsnet Hockey Hack: Powered by Rogers 5G. The virtual hackathon offers a unique opportunity for students to design applications to enhance the fan experience for Sportsnet viewers, using Rogers’s 5G technology and data from the NHL’s Puck and Player Tracking system during the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.